Pocky Central

And by recent, I mean the past ten years or so.

There used to be (and still is, to a point) a large multitude of game genres. Adventure, sports, role-playing, shooting (the side-scrolling kind, not the first person kind), you name it. Lots of different people were making games for lots of different audiences, and chances were you could find something you wanted to play.

Fast forward to today.

These days, there seem to be four major game genres, for both PCs (and by this, I mean Windows machines, Macs, and yes, even Linux boxes) and consoles.

Those four genres are First Person Shooters (FPS), Real-Time Strategy (RTS), Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (MMORPG), and Sports (sorry, no need acronym here).

Let’s look at these, one at a time, in no particular order.

Sports: there is no way to get around the fact that the sports genre is possibly the highest selling one of them all right now. Look at Madden, look at the NBA games, and the various driving games. I don’t know exact numbers, but I do know that there are tournaments dedicated to Madden with big prizes. That’s got to count for something.

MMORPGs: World of Warcraft. Everquest 2. Ragnarok Online. City of Heroes/Villains. There are hundreds of MMORPGs (and similar MMO-(type of game)s) out in the world now. Some are pay-to-play. Others are free-to-play, pay-for-neat-stuff. In the end, they’re all ’social’ games, where you play with other people. And some call them the ‘wave of the future’.
RTSs: Starcraft. Warcraft. Command and Conquer, Age of (noun of your choice). There are a lot of real time strategy games, some good, many not so good. While they’ve waned in popularity, they’re still fairly profitable. Some of the games are still very popular, like Starcraft, which is played at world level tournaments.
FPSs: There are simply too many to list. But since they’ve been called ‘killing trainers’ by some, I don’t think I really need to go into them. (If I do, let me know, and I will, though)
Of these, I only personally enjoy one - MMORPGs. I’ve never really liked sports games on consoles or PCs, with the exception of goofy ones, like Mario Tennis or Need For Speed. FPS games give me headaches, and unlike most Koreans (or so I am told), I suck at RTS games.

So what about puzzle games? Role playing games? Platformers and the others? I’ll get to those some other time. (But I will say - I love them all)

Okay. Two in a row because I completely forgot to post yesterday. This is backdated, as usual.

I have been playing World of Warcraft since the second closed beta. I’ve always like online multiplayer games, but WoW really has been a lot of fun for me. However, I’m not going to talk about WoW specifically today.

I’m going to talk about MMOs in general, the ones I’v played, and why I like them so much.

I started playing online games in college. My friend, L, told me about MUDs (Multi-User Dungeons), and a week later, I was hooked. I played them in all of my spare time, and sometimes in my not-so-spare time. There was something about knowing that the other characters were being controlled by other people. (I’d already messed around with IRC, so the idea that there were people online to talk to wasn’t knew, but actually playing a game with them was)

After half a year or so, I forced myself to stop so I could concentrate on studying and my job. But every once in a while, I would think, “Man, I miss playing on (name of a MUD that I don’t remember anymore).”

A couple of years after I started college, Everquest came out. Needless to say, I bought it, installed it, and played it for a while.

Since then, I’ve played Asheron’s Call, Dark Age of Camelot, World of Warcraft, and a slew of others. I’m currently in a couple of beta tests, too. Why?

One reason is that I love to play new games. I like trying out new systems, seeing how companies do with variations on the same theme (thus all the MMOs), and seeing how far graphics are being pushed. I like participating with a group of like minded people (the beta testers I’ve met are, in general, fairly cool people), chatting with them, and finding out how to best play the class that I’ve chosen.

I like the idea that I can roll along by myself, soloing my way through a slew of quests, but that I can also group up with a bunch of other players and work with them to achieve a goal. And I like being able to ‘dress up’ my avatar in neat armor and clothes that I earn through quests and by defeating enemies.

Those are the reasons I can currently think of as to why I like MMOs. There are a lot of things I think need to be changed/fixed, but that’ll wait for another time.

I am a collector. I love collecting books, videos, figures, games, and many other things.

If the phrase “Collector’s Edition” is on something, there is a strong chance that I will want it. (Case in point, the World of Warcraft Collector’s Edition)

The people who have been to my home know how much of a collector I am. I have shelves and shelves full of books, DVDs, and other collectables. I am continually buying, selling, and replacing the things in my collection. Sometimes I just give things away, and sometimes I sell them (to friends, on eBay, whatever). But regardless, I’m always running out of room.

Someday it will be the death of me, I’m sure of it.

Every time I tell myself, “Okay, no more of ‘X thing’,” I end up finding that ONE thing I need for my collection. I swear, if I did drugs/smoked/drank, it would be cheaper… because I’d be too drunk/chill/stoned/high to care. (Well, maybe.)

I have gotten better about being a pack rat, thankfully. The sales I mentioned earlier started a few years ago, in order to break myself of the pack rat habit.

However, it ended up just being a way to make room for new things. Despite my best attempts, I’m still a collector.

But at least I have a hobby.

Many of the people that know me know that I love video games of all kinds. Puzzle games, role-playing games, adventure games, whatever.

These same people know that I don’t currently play first-person shooters (from here on referred to as FPS), because they give me massive headaches.

This started around the time the original Quake came out. I’m not entirely sure if it was the game that caused the initial reaction, or if it was something about me that caused it, but the first time I tried to play Quake, I had a massive, near-migraine headache within a few minutes.

I took some heacache medicine, and after lying down for an hour, I tried playing it again. Same reaction.

Not knowing exactly what was causing me the pain, I thought that I might have better luck with a different game. A while later, another FPS came out with a similar control scheme. I bought it, installed it, and tried to play it.

Once again, I was down with a headache within minutes.

So I pretty much came to the conclusion that I would never be able to play and FPS games again.

Then Halo came out.

I loved the look, the story, and the style of the game. Thinking, “Hey, it’s been a few years. Maybe I can play it,” I bought a copy for my XBox and gave it a try.

Two minutes later, I was on the couch, medicine in hand.

At this point, it looks like I will not be able to play a good chunk of the newer games coming out, and an even larger chunk of the games that are already out (Half Life 2, FarCry, etc.). I’ve actually found that some third person games, like Gears of War, give me a problem, too.

I hope that the current trend of ‘FPS games and nothing but’ eventually ebbs, so I can look forward to some games that I will actually be able to play. (In particular, I’m hoping for more good turn based strategy and role-playing games)